Revisting the Riverbank: A Four Year Review of Our Coaching Work

We saw this need coming in the depths of the Pandemic. Heads of schools in particular were doubly isolated. Without an easily proximate peer group, they were a category of one within their own communities. They received support from their boards and support from those who reported to them; however, for many, if not most, they were giving of themselves to the job and others to a frighteningly unsustainable degree. They were both a sort of field general and therapist. We will be debriefing the pandemic crucible for generations to come.

In the full heat of this moment, we developed an idea that has led to what we call Riverbank Colleagues, our interpretation of leadership coaching. In addition to the other threads of our work with client schools, we meet once every two weeks with a head for an hour. Additionally, clients can call their Riverbank Colleague anytime, and if we can’t pick up in real-time.  We will call back ASAP.  24/7.

Now that we have done this for a few years, we thought it might be helpful to share some takeaways:

• While the need for this kind of access to a caring and knowledgeable source of caring and counsel is not only as necessary as it was during the pandemic, it is perhaps still growing. 
• Not all heads have the same needs though there are commonalities. Boards and leadership teams should pay attention to how they can be better partners to their specific head. 
• The heads we work with to date are universally earnest, smart, and ready to give all they have. Sometimes they give too much, and thus become vulnerable and exhausted.
• Heads desperately need someone to process complexity with someone outside of the specific Governance/Head/Leadership Team structure. They need a place to reveal incomplete thinking. 
• A Head’s effectiveness is correlated with a Board’s visible and unambiguous support. Developing that kind of support means board members desire to know key information, read reports before board meetings, and ask clarifying questions. It also means that they maintain confidentiality while unambiguously supporting the school even in moments of challenge or crisis.
• The job of head of school is evolving quickly, and what it takes to support them fully is changing as a result.

These takeaways need a more thorough description than we can give them here. Below is the piece that originated our Riverbank Colleague Work. Please take a look as it is more relevant than ever.  We have highlighted some key takeaways from that piece.

For someone who loved going to the most beautiful and wild places in the mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee, I was never much of a paddler or a climber, but I learned enough about each to be competent in the role of second or third leader on a trip. On the rockface, I lacked the imagination and boldness of a great climber; as a paddler, I didn’t always pick the right line, hence I did some unplanned swimming in the Nantahala, the Ocoee, the Nolichucky, the Chattooga, the Pigeon, and the French Broad. I was, however, a good teacher. As a result, I could help others do things that would have been impossible for me.

I worked with some climbers who from day one could accomplish things that would at best stymie me and at worst put me in traction. I coached some paddlers who did things after a few days on the river that would have left my boat wrapped around a rock on which I would then stand forlorn and somewhat worse for wear. 

All that said, each of those climbers and paddlers needed me. My role wasn’t to be better than them as climbers or paddlers; my role was to support them, to help them find confidence, to think through something in advance, to debrief something after it went well or went poorly. Additionally, part of my job was to give them the benefit of my experience in as much as it would be helpful to them.

As a school leader, so many of my sources of good counsel over the years have been leaders at other schools doing the same job as me, and they have generously offered advice along the way. In my career, I have been uniquely fortunate in this area. However, during this time in which the advent of COVID-19 marked an immersion with the pandemic and a reckoning with systemic racism, those people have less (more likely zero!) bandwidth to offer beyond their own school. This has been consistently evident as I have reached out to check in with and offer support Heads around the country.

Importantly, in education writ large and in independent schools, Heads don’t always have requisite sources of support. We see evidence of this in the number of Heads who are raising their hands for help that doesn’t seem to be on the way. We see it in the epidemic-level breakdown of Head-Board relationships. And...we see it in far too numerous early Head departures. To serve schools well, Heads must have sources of support, or nothing will be there to break their fall, and in the end, schools will be weaker for the loss.

But there’s more (everything in every news cycle right now seems like this!)...institutional goals cannot be simply to withstand or survive challenges. Schools and leaders must aim to flourish in an ever-changing environment. Highly talented, well-meaning, and hollow-eyed leadership is not enough. They need more help, and Boards, as well as direct reports, cannot provide all of those needs.

• Scouting: they have scouted ahead, listened to other paddlers who have already traveled this way.
• They can sort the feedback of those other paddlers in order to edit the scouting report for what is most valuable.
• They can ask provocative questions, challenging the leader to see things through a different lens–even if the result is to reaffirm a choice the leader is inclined to make already.
• They can, when relevant, provide their insight having traveled this river (or one a bit like it) before.
• They can bolster the paddler’s confidence and cheer them on.
• They can, when necessary, advise caution if the paddler is considering a route that is dangerous.
• They can provide a safe, confidential place to express frustration, fear or concern.
• They can celebrate the victories of the paddler.

Heads of school, like paddlers of all skill levels need these Riverbank Colleagues, and they don’t have them. Right now they need them desperately.

No matter how much a Board Chair on one side or an Assistant Head or CFO wants to play this kind of supportive role, they cannot. The Riverbank Colleague exists outside the flow of the river or of the life of the school. This person is neither someone that the Head reports to, nor is it someone that reports to the Head. It is an outsider whose priority is the Head him/her/themself.

It is our belief at EXPLO Elevate that there are warning signs up for the river ahead, for the school year to come, and even though there are a number of significant challenges pressing for a leader’s attention, it must remain a priority to take care of themselves and create the necessary support structures to ensure their well being and sustainability in the job.